The World Health Organisation estimates that at least 81 million in Africa have some form of disability. In Nigeria alone it is estimated that 25.5 million people in Nigeria had at least one disability.
Grace Jerry is one of the 25.5 million people who have a disability. In 2002, Grace Jerry was on her way home from choir rehearsal when she was knocked down by a drunk driver and left with paralysis of the lower limbs. After the accident she says music took on a whole new dimension and now she uses music as part of her activism in Nigeria.
The Presidential Precinct Yali video blog, Grace or 'Gracie' eloquently speaks about her experience as a advocate for disability rights in a developing country.
My last blog explored how to make disabled aides in developing countries. This week's blog will focus on a NGO based in New York who adapt cardboard to make aides for disabled people.
The Adaptive Design association first started out in 1981 when Alex Truesdell, an early childhood teacher from the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, met Erin, an infant with severe multiple disabilities. A short time after Alex's Aunt Lynn lost the use of her fingers and thumbs following a spinal cord injury. With the help of her Uncle, Alex started to adapt different types of materials to customise solutions for Erin and her Aunt Lynn.
Over the next few years, Alex set up a small workshop in her basement and made many more adaptions for children at the school. Eventually the school hired Alex fulltime to start the Assistive Device Center, a program now in its 28th year.
Image courtesy of Kristen Hastings
The mission of the Adaptive Design Association (ADA) is to ensure that people with disabilities are able to fulfil their potential in all spheres of life. ADA help adapt materials for self-care, communication, social activities, academic and vocational potential. Each person receives their own custom adaption to suit their need. The organisation also runs a full range of hands-on education, from basic introduction to apprenticeships, for people wanting to establish Adaptive Design Center's within their schools, organisations and communities across the globe.
Kristen Hastings an occupational therapist from the USA who I met in Viet Nam when she volunteered at a rehabilitation centre I was working with, took the three day course with ADA. Kristen's motivation for embarking on the course was her experience volunteering at a rehabilitation centre in Hanoi, Viet Nam. Throughout her experience Kristen worked endlessly to adapt wheelchairs by using towels, thera-bands and other materials to correctly position each child. The course run in New York offered Kristen a chance to develop new skills when she works overseas in developing countries.
Image courtesy of Kristen Hastings
The three day course includes the basics such as how to measure accurately, how to cut the cardboard using various power and hand-tools; to more complex tasks such as how to manipulate the cardboard. Kristen choose to learn how to make chair inserts as part of her final task on the last day. The chair inserts fit into a wheelchair which would position children in the most optimal position.
The course has enabled Kristen to develop sustainable solutions to rehabilitation and care in the developing world. Cardboard is a accessible material in many developing countries and with limited access to equipment designed for disabilities, engineering aides from cardboard is a lifeline for developing countries.
This simple idea of manipulating and adapting a low cost material allows more and more people with disabilities to access their world. Kristen Hastings commented 'positioning is key for so many who have a disability. With the proper supports, the body is free to focus more on eating, playing, writing etc. With increased accessibility to engage in your environment comes increased socialisation with others. With increased engagement and participation in one's environment comes increased quality of life."
By enabling a person to draw, play a musical instrument, wash their own hands or improve their communication skills to develop their potential. So often disabled peoples options are very limited due to a lack of accessibility.
Adaptive design provide great solutions for everyday uses. Although the organisation is located in New York they encourage individuals to spread the word and ideas. ADA hope to train other professionals, opening more workshops across the United States as well as other countries. By connecting more people across countries Adaptive Design is leading the way to creating greater accessibility for individuals in multiple communities across the globe.
Working overseas in a developing country is always challenging whether you are haggling for resources to build a centre to stay on budget for a project or the car breaking down in the middle of nowhere - you have to learn to think on your feet.
Whilst working in Cambodia and Vietnam I spent a vast amount of time trying to find ways of making and adapting equipment which we would be able to find so easily in the developed world. Whether I was trying to fix wheelchairs, improve the level of care the children received or attempting to make toys to help with therapy sessions, everyday was a struggle.
During the month of October I'm going to share some of my ideas, solutions, books, websites and resources to help aid workers, families and therapists from across the world. This week I’m going to focus on making toys and sensory boxes for sensory therapy.
Sensory bottles
Pinterest has been my go to place for making sensory bottles for the last two years. Although it has been filled with endless experiments of making sensory bottles in a classroom in Cambodia, the office in Vietnam and many other places! I have finally found the winning solution.
What will you will need?
Water bottle Water Glitter glue (or PVC glitter and glitter) Glitter Jewels/Sequins/Buttons etc
Super glue
How to make it:
Fill the water water bottle up to roughly ⅔ Add a bottle of glitter glue and some extra glitter Add the jewels,sequins, buttons etc Finally superglue the top so it doesn’t go everywhere!
Sensory dens
Ideally every centre will have a sensory room where the children can receive therapy or a place for them to relax. Sadly not every centre has enough space or resources to build a sensory room. In some centres we created ‘sensory dens’ which was a makeshift version! Here are some ideas which we used.
What will you need?
Material Cardboard/paper
Fairy lights Cushions Paint/colouring pencils/felt tips Art and crafts materials - glitter, sequins, material etc
How to make it:
Drape the material to make a tent like shape. Decorate the tent to the children’s need i.e including fairy lights, mobiles and sensory boxes to include for the session.
Sensory boxes
Each box can be designed to each child's or adult's need whether the box can be used to improve fine motor skills, autism or dementia there are lots of possibilities.
Autism Space sensory box:
You can adjust each box to the individual need whether you need a box based around a sense, learning tool each box can be changed!
What will you need?
Black beans or grey sand Astronauts Pebbles Planets made from bouncy balls or cut out circles from cardboard Stars (glow in the dark if you can source them)
How to make it:
Put it all in the box and create space!
Touchy feely dementia sensory box:
Boxes Bowl of cold porridge Ball of cotton wool Sponge Polystyrene balls Banana Football
How to make it:
With this box you can make a hole in each of the boxes, place the objects in the box and pass the box to the patient to put their hand in and try to guess what the objects are.
Fine motor skill box:
Four small boxes Paint (green, yellow, red,blue) Buttons (green, yellow, red,blue)
How to make it:
Paint the boxes the four colours and ask the individual to match the buttons to the box.
These boxes and bottles can be adapted for each person's need but they are cheap and easy to make. There are so many markets across the developing world where you can buy arts and craft materials and are so much fun to make. Enjoy!
